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How to Survive the Summer When You’re a Work-at-Home Mom

Are you looking for a little instant ease when it comes to kids home for summer vacation? I totally get you. Check out the Summer Survival Guide . It's chock-full of great ideas to organize your summer and enjoy great times with yours kids.

Life as MOM contributor, Prerna Malik shares some tips and tricks for summertime when you work at home.

One of the most common questions I get from fellow work-at-home moms is, “How do you deal with the summer?” Yes, the summer season instead of being a time for fun and relaxation has become this bugbear in the work-at-home-mom community.

Why?

Because the kids are home from school.

Because the days are long and hot, and indoor activities seem the only possibility.

Because working on your business when everyone else is on holiday seems impossible.

Ahh.. don’t stress. There’s help at hand!

Here is how you can survive the summer happily and easily, while managing your kids, home and business:

1. Grab a Copy of Summer Survival Guide

The first thing you must do is grab a copy of the Summer Survival Guide. This fantastic eBook is a treasure trove of activity ideas, menu planning help and tons of information on having fun with the kids on a shoestring budget. So, if you don’t already have it, get it now. It can help you keep your children engaged through the summer months.

2. Prepare and Plan

Next, armed with your Summer Survival Guide, home management binder and calendar, prepare and plan a schedule of activities for everyone. Pencil in outdoor time as well as quiet playtime.

Check with a neighbor or friend if she can babysit your kids for a few hours every week or look for a mother’s helper. Those hours can be your biz development hours.

Also, use the preparation time to plan menus for the summer, so that you don’t have to waste time thinking about what to cook. If you have time at hand, do some freezer cooking and toss things into the freezer to pull out on nights when you’ve not had time to cook.

3. Put Your Business on Autopilot

You can write and schedule blog posts ahead of time or better still, if you have lots of content in your archives, now is a good time to re-post that for your readers. Set up autoresponders for customer queries or FAQs. Social media, too, can easily be put on autopilot using tools like Hootsuite or Buffer.

I spend 30 minutes scheduling updates for the week and then, check in every day for like 10 minutes or so to reply, retweet or repost something.

The summer shouldn’t be a time for stressing and fretting. With a bit of planning, preparation and the right tools, you can make it into a fun and productive time for both your family and your business.

Grab a copy of my eBook- Summer Sanity Savers for the Work-at-Home Mom at a special 50% discount for LAM readers. Use coupon code LAM to get yourself all the tips and tools you need to rock your summer as a work-at-home mom for just $4.50.

— Prerna Malik is a mom, a wife, a writer and woman who believes in parenting with love, being postively productive, and creating a home that invites you to put your feet up and relax. Find her sharing her simple tips and easy-to-do ideas at The Mom Writes or follow her on Twitter.

Comments

I work at home and summer can be tough, but I agree with having activities scheduled. I have older kids so if they know we have some fun time planned, it makes it easier for times when I have to work all day and they have to entertain themselves. I can’t put my business in auto pilot but having a schedule to communicate to them also helps. I think it’s good for older kids to have activity free time to be creative.

Welcome to Life as MOM! I'm FishMama, chief cook and bottle washer around here. I have six kids under 18, and I've lived to tell the tale. Want to know how to make the most out of what you have where you are? You've come to the right place.

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